Zachariah Sitchen, author of the landmark “Earth Chronicles” series of books, passed away October 9th. Services were private, but an email was sent out to friends and fans.

The Earth Chronicles books, the first entitled “The 12th Planet”, written in 1977, took the vague theorizing of Van Daniken and Velikofsky, and made it concrete, with a truly amazing epic unfolded from revisionist interpretations of original Sumerian documents. The research supporting his theories was exhausting and the books became the foundation for a whole school of revisionist history — one that suggests that the earth was visited in ancient times by beings from another planet, the 12th planet in our solar system, and that these beings “created” or more accurately hybridized mankind to provide laborers for their gold mines. These beings, called the Annunaki in Sumeria, were the first “Gods”, and their panthion of 12 ruling gods was the model for both the Greek and Roman mythologies that followed. I say mythologies because, while the Annunaki were actually living on the planet in Sumerian times, they had left and gone back to their homeland Nibiru, the 12th planet, long before the Greek civilization rose, with the possible exception of one god later named Yahweh.

As fantastic as it sounds, Sitchens’ historical and scientific support of the story was exhausting and thorough, and while heavily argued and often challenged, it could never be dismissed by anyone who actually did the research.. And it explained many of the historical anomalies that have never been adequately explained — such as the missing link in human ancestory, the miraculous advent of polyploidal grains in the first examples of agriculture in Sumerian highlands, and the peturbations in the orbits of Nuptune and Uranus that spawned the Planet X movement.

I can’t begin to do justice to this monumental work — which now spans a dozen books — in this forum, although a brief book review can be found in the “Must read Books” page of this site, but for anyone really curious as to man’s origins and the history of religion, The Earth Chronicals series it is a must read indeed.

I had the good fortune to meet Zacharia in San Diego several years ago, before he became to ill to travel, and it truly was a treat, for Sitchens work has completely transformed my ancient historical and religious world-view forever. He will be missed by millions. — Eric